Getting Around Your Facebook Profile Page

This is the third in a series on Social Media.

Your Profile Page is personal. Across the top is a search bar that lets you look for people you know. To help you tour your new profile are little arrows that say 1 Bio, 2 Photos, 3 Navigation, 4 Education and Work, and 5 Interests. When you click on an arrow, a small box appears telling you what to do.

Below the arrows are two columns. The left-hand column is topped with your photo, followed by these links:

• The Wall is where your all of your posts are stored. (Your friends' posts can be seen on their profiles.) When friends want to send you a message they write on your wall.
  
• Info is your background—education, work history, philosophy, political leanings—anything you are willing to share.
  
• Photos are links to all of your photo albums. When you post photos your friends can see them on your Profile Page.
  
• Notes (on my page) are my forwarded blogs.
  
• Friends are pictures of all of your Facebook "friends."
  
• At the bottom of the column is a link to Add a Badge to your site. There are several categories of badges to choose from. Just click on the one(s) you want.
  

In the second column, after the word Share, are the following links:

• Status is the place to bring friends up to date on your life.
  
• Photo allows you to share a photo, add a photo, or create an album.
  
• Link is a box in which you can direct viewers to another URL.
  
• Video tells you to record or upload a video.
  

On my Profile Page are forwards from my blogs, as well as the most recent photos I have posted. At the bottom of the page are comments from friends who have looked at my profile page.

Follow the Bouncing E-mail

My daughters have been complaining about not receiving my e-mail attachments. Now, they tell me they are not even receiving my e-mails. They have a lot of company. My e-mails are bouncing back faster than I can hit “send” — well, my emails to anyone@charter.net, anyway. I had no idea how many people are on Charter. This is not good.

Nothing that involves the Internet is easy. It always has multiple steps, and this is no exception. I start by calling Charter, who tells me, “It’s not our fault. If your e-mail comes from your website, you will have to call your website host.” My website host says they can’t find anything wrong on their end; I should call Charter again. This gives me an instant stomachache.

Being technologically advanced, Charter has a female computer that tries to read my voice by asking me ridiculous questions to which there are no correct answers. Eventually, I give up and say “representative.” Wrong word. How about “operator”? Still wrong. “Agent?” Bingo.

Next step: the endless wait. Despite the fact that my call is important to them, I go into a loop that plays endless commercials for Charter, until a human being finally shows up and asks me for my PIN, which I don’t know. Somehow, he accepts one of the numbers I give him and tries to identify my problem. The agent gives up, says he will connect me with a supervisor, and puts me on perma-hold. The supervisor does not appear. Eventually, I am cut off.

This goes on for a while until I have a tantrum and actually get to speak to a real, live supervisor. I try to explain that all of my e-mails are coming back with an error message that indicates I’m sending SPAM. He suggests I forward the offending message (which one?) to postmaster@charter.net. "How can I do that if I can’t get through to Charter?" I ask. He prevails upon me to try. My e-mail bounces back. He gives me his private e-mail address and finally deduces that Charter doesn’t like my e-mail signature with its little ghost and links to my website, blogs, and twitter.

"Do my daughters really need my signature?" he asks. "Can I write the postmaster@charter.net from another e-mail address?" These suggestions are followed by a serious explanation of SPAM with which I am quite familiar, since a lot of it gets through, although, of course, not my little ghost logo or twitter link.

That whole procedure (four phone calls) takes over an hour, and I still haven’t begun to implement the supervisor’s multiple solutions. At the moment, I am too tired to even try. I only hope no one from Charter is expecting a reply to his or her e-mail message before tomorrow, or, perhaps, ever.

The who, what, when, where, and how of blogging

When I started my blog, I had no idea what I was doing. That would seem to imply that now I do, which is not quite accurate. But high on my list of marketing tactics for 2009 is learning everything I can about successful blogging and then applying those lessons to The Writing Life and PRISM. To that end, I have been diligently researching, reading, making lists, and trying out one lesson at a time. While there are dozens of blogs on blogging, I have tried to condense some of the best of the best tips into one list to share with those who may need a map for this strange new territory (I sure did!). Here are the basics.

Who (is your target audience?)
1. Readers who are interested in what you do
2. Potential customers or clients
3. People you can help in some way

Why (should you have a blog?)
4. To provide value to your readers
5. To inform, teach, guide, entertain, or all of these
6. To develop a following of loyal followers and raving fans
7. To create and reinforce your brand
8. To sell ideas, services, or products

What (should you do in your blog?)
9. Tell success stories — yours, your clients’, or your readers'.
10. Answer questions you have been asked in the past.
11. Write about what you know.
12. List useful tips on how to do things.
13. Recommend books and resources.
14. Tell great stories.
15. Do your best writing; don’t post until it’s perfect.
16. Interview colleagues and experts in your field.
17. Reprint other blog posts; always ask for permission or cite sources.
18. Reprint other articles; always include the author’s descriptive blurb.

How (should you go about it?)
19. Stick to your subject; be consistent.
20. Remember: delivery, packaging, and presentation count.
21. Feature others; write profiles.
22. Develop a survey, questionnaire, or online interview; post responses.
23. Solicit guest posts.
24. Ask your readers what they need; then, provide it.
25. Let yourself experiment; use some creativity.
26. Comment on other blogs.
27. Submit posts to other blogs.
28. Offer to be a guest blogger.
29. Link to other blogs; request links from them.
30. Read great blogs; subscribe to them.
31. Put a link to your blog in your e-mail signature, every page of your website, all outgoing correspondence, your newsletter, your author’s blurb, business cards, brochure, and flyers.
32. Include RSS feeds so people can subscribe to your blog.
33. Use trackback links when you quote from or refer to other blog posts.
34. Carry a little blog idea book around with you. Jot down ideas; create a backlog.
35. Write articles; include a link to your blog in your authors blurb.
36. Respond to comments readers make on your blog.
37. Create a “best posts page” category on your main page; link to your best posts.
38. Create tags for every blog post.
39. Let your personality shine through; find your “voice.”
40. Talk to your readers; have a conversation.
41. Remember, you’re a resource; always give your readers something.

Where (should you submit or post your blog?)
42. Submit your blog to blog directories: BlogCatlog, Masternewmedia.org
43. Recommend great blogs: copyblogger, remarkablogger, writetodone.
44. Check out biztipsblog.com, coachezines.com, JTPratt's Blogging Mistakes, and pingomatic.com.
45. Visit Marketing Strategy Thoughts for ideas.
46. Use TwitterFeed to link your blog posts to twitter.
47. Submit your blog to MyBlogLog, BlogCatalog, Bumpmee, EntreCard, weblogs.com, digg.com, myweb.yahoo.com, stumbleupon.com, blinklist.com.
48. Link to del.icio.us.com.
49. Sign up for an account on Technorati.

When (should you post?)
50. Regularly and often